Hinged joint



Nov. 13, 1928. 1,691,468 A. J. COOPER ET AL HINGED JOINT Filed Nov. 1926 m Kw u wwu Patented Nov. 13, 1928.

UNITED STA TES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT JAMES ooornn, or xnw, AND ALWYN ALFRED HOPE BILNEY, OF LONDON,

- ENGLAND.

i HINGED JOINT.

Application filed November 2, 1926, Serial No. 145,874, and in Great Britain December 10, 1925 This invention is for improvements in or relating to hinged joints, and has for one of its objects to cheapen the cost of manufacture of hinged joints, and for anotherobjeet to facilitate the assembly of the members of hinged joints. The invention is particularly adapted for embodiment in tin boxes, but it is'also capable of other applications.

According to the primary feature of the present invention there is provided a hinged joint having a hinge pivot carried by (for example integral with) one member of the joint, and a bridge-like housing so placed on (for example pressed out of the material of) the other member of the joint as to receive the pivot, which hinged joint is characterized in that the material adjacent to the housing is slit in such a manner that a slit or slits extend to an edge of the material'of the hinge, member, so that the parts of the hinge, member on each side of the slit are movable relatively to each other, to permit the passage of the hinge pivot intoor out of the said housing, which parts,liowever, are normally in position to obstruct the said passage of thehinge pivot. This arrangement will be found to promote east of assembly of the members of the joint and con sequently to cheapen the cost of production.

According to another feature of. the present invention a hinged joint as aforesaid and having two bridge-like housings which receive both ends of the pivot is provided which is characterized in that the material adjacent to each housing is left unslit through at least one half of the outline of the respective housings (for example is left unslit on at least two adjacent sides of a rectangle bounding a housing). In this way the strength of the hinge members will be retained without interfering with the ease of assembly ofthe members.

According to a further featureiof the invention, the material adjacent to one only of said housings is slit in such a manner to allow that housing the hinge pivot may be placed in operative position. Thus, since only one end of the housing-carrying member is slit, such member will be stiffer than if it were slit at more places, and furthermore the assembly of the. members of the joint isfacilitated.

According to another feature of'the in sembling the hinge members.

to move .so that "with the stiffness ofthe material that the housing or housings can be forcibly displaced to allow the hinge pivot to assume its operative setting, and will afterwards automatically spring back into position to retain the pivot; in such operative setting. By adopting such anarrangcment, it'becomes unnecessary toreturn the housings to their operative position by manual or other operation, thus simplifying the procedure in as- Conveniently to a housing there is only one slit extending to an edge of the material of the hinge member. Each housing may haverone open and one blind end and it is preferred that the slit shall be located solely atthe'open end of the housing. The slit Will usually lie at right angles to the axis of the hinge pivot. 1

For a. more. complete understanding of the invention there will be now described, by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, certain constructional forms of hinged joints ,according to the invention: It is to be understood, however, that the. invention is not restricted to the precise constructional details set forth. In these drawings Figure 1 is a composite perspective view of the lid and body of a tin box constructed accordingv to thepresent invention and showing them detached one from the other.

Figure 2 is a perspective view corresponding to Figure l, but showing the two parts of the box assembled.

Figure 3 is a composite perspective view showing the two parts of a hinge constructed according to thepresent invention and intended to be secured to the two parts which it is required to hinge together. The details of construction illustrated in Figure 3 difi'er SOH116Wl1lt from those shown in Figures 1 ant 2.

Like reference numerals indicate like parts pivot, the concave face of the channel being directed towards the interior of the box when the lid is in it's closed position. The rear wall 14 of the body 15 of the box is formed with two bridge-like,housings' 16 and 17,.

each with one open and one blind end whereof the open ends are directed towards each other. The material 18 of the wall 14 be tween the housings is offset inwardly in order to permit the hinge pivot to work freely, and a single slit 19 is provided whichv is at right angles to the axis of the hinge pivot and is adjacent to the mouth of the" housing 17, it extending from the top edge of the wall 14 to the entrance of the housing.

To assemble the two parts of the box, the appropriate hinge pivot end is inserted in the housing 16 and pressure is applied to open the slit 19 which will allow the other hinge pivot endto be inserted and forced downwards into the housing 17. As the hinge pivot ends nowrcst onthe housings arovided for them, the material of the side of the box which was temporarily displaced duringthis latter operation will spring back to its normal position and retain the hinge pivot in its operative setting. W

The operations in the construction of the members of the hinged joint can be carried out either singly, successiv'ely,'or simultaneously, as desired; furthermore, the said operations together with the assembly of the members of the hinged joint may be carried out by hand, or handor power-operated mechanism as required. I

i The construction shown in Figure 3 comprises a pair of plates 20 and 21 which are intended to be a tached by screws'or other fastenings to two members which are required to be hinged together. The plate 20 has two L-shaped projections 22 and 23 whereof the bases form the hinge pivot of the 'oint, these bases being in alignment and sing channelled with their concave faces directed in the opposite direction to that in which the concave face of the hinge pivot shown in Figuresland 2 is directed. In some circumstances the arrangement shown in Figure 3 is preferable since a rounded portion of the hinge pivot will bear against the co-operating memberof the joint. The plate 21 has two housi'ngs24l and. 25 which are similar in construction to those shown in Figures 1 and 2, but are reversed in setting so that their'open ends are directed'away from each other- These is a single slit 26 adjacent to the mouth of the housing 25.

To assemble the parts shown in Figure 3, the pi vot 22 will first be inserted into the housing 24L, af er which the slit will be sprung open and the pivot 28 forced into place in its housing 25. Preferably this operation will be carried out before the plates 20 and 21 are attached to the'men'ibers which they are required to hinge together;

It ill be appreciated that inthe various constructions described and illustrated, the

It is to be understood that the invention is not restricted tothe precise constructional details set forth. For instance, although in each joint only one slit extending. to. an edge of the material of the hinge member-is shown, there may in some circumstances be more than one such slit. lowever the fewer of such slits the better from the point of view of the strength of the hinge members.

A hinged joint for connecting afcov'erto a box without the use of tools, the cover having two oppositely extending pivots connected thereto, the box havingtwo oppositely disposed housings extending beyond the outer face of the box, there being anopening to each of the housings,.while the other ends of thehousings are closed and merge into the body of the box, one of the housings being connected to the bodyof the be); at both sides ofthe opening, there being a slit from the top of the be to the opening to the other housing, whereby one of the pivots canbe entered into the opening of the first mentioned housing after which the second pivot can be inserted into its housing by passing it through the slit.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification.

ALBERT JAMES COOPER.

ALWYN ALFRED HOPE vBILVEY. 

